Home runs by Matt Antonelli and Roger Bernadina were more than enough to support Tom Milone, who won his 12th game of the season to match his 2010 and 2009 totals. Milone flirted with a perfect game for 13 batters before giving up a single and two walks in the 5th, but worked out of a bases-loaded jam to finish with five scoreless innings. Atahualpa Severino finished up the 4-0 win with two scoreless innings of relief.

The Chiefs wasted no time to get their four runs in the nightcap, scoring ’em all in the top of the 1st with Corey Brown’s two-out, two-run double capping the rally. Brad Peacock got his fifth AAA win (15th overall) with five scoreless innings, giving up five hits and a walk while striking out seven. Brown doubled again in the 6th to match Tug Hulett as both men went 2-for-3 on the night. Doug Slaten and Jeff Mandel each laid an egg on the scoreboard to complete the shutout and sweep the doubleheader.

All the scoring in this one came in the 4th inning as the Portland Sea Dogs ended the Harrisburg Senators’ seven-game win streak by handing them a 4-2 loss. Danny Rosenbaum took his first AA loss, giving up the four runs on five hits and three walks over seven innings. Harrisburg’s struggles with RISP resurfaced with a 1-for-11 night and 12 men left on base, as Archie Gilbert was the sole Sen to collect multiple hits with a 3-for-4 night. Bowie was unable to gain ground on Harrisburg, losing to Altoona to stay 4½ back in the E.L. West.

Potomac — OFF DAY
Potomac visits Lynchburg for the next four games, leading the Hillcats by 5½ games and trailing the Keys by 3½ games. The magic number to clinch a playoff berth is three, the tragic number to lose the division title is five.

Corey Dickinson’s two-out, two-run pinch-hit home run (#31 for the year, #25 at home) over the right field wall at McCormick Field sent the Suns to their sixth straight defeat by a 12-11 count. The Suns pounded out 21 hits for the contest with Adrian Sanchez leading the way with a 5-for-6 night, overcoming an early 5-0 deficit to take an 11-6 lead. A.J. Cole struggled again, giving up five first-inning runs and allowing seven hits and a walk over three and a 1/3rd innings while striking out nine. The loss drops Hagerstown to below .500 at 31-32 and cuts their elimination number to one.

Like the Suns, the Doubledays blew a five-run lead and imploded in the 9th for an 8-7 loss. Aaron Barrett took the hill in the 9th with a 7-4 lead and walked three, including one with the bases loaded to score the first run, uncorked a wild pitch to let in two and tie the game at 7-7, and gave up the game-winner with two outs. The loss was Auburn’s second straight and cuts their lead over Williamsport to two games in the NYPL’s Pinckney division.

17 Commments

Nice to see Milone and Peacock doing well, and Corey Brown continues to campaign for a September callup and AFL consideration. If the line is correct, A.J. Cole only managed to get 11 outs, and NINE of them were strikeouts? That’s a pretty serious BABIP fail … with all five of his runs in the first it would be interesting to have a game report. Was he getting lit up, or was it just one of those days? Either way, giving up all five of his runs in the first means that he put up some zeros after that, which is good to see.

I wonder if Antonelli has played his way onto 40 man consideration, or if he’s going to be Rule 5 bait. It will be interesting to see who goes to the AFL this year.

“In the 1st inning, 2B Hector Velazquez banged an RBI double to left field, C Dustin Garneau ripped an RBI double, RF Avery Barnes yanked an RBI single to right field, LF Chandler Laurent smacked an RBI single up the middle, and Barnes scored on a wild pitch by Cole”

Missing (from the PBP recap on the boxscore) are a wild pitch and two stolen bases. It’s true that Cole settled down, but what you can’t glean from the boxscore (generally you don’t get pitches-strikes data until AAA) is how many pitches it took to get those nine strikeouts, seven of which came in a row. We can infer that it was probably a lot.

Brad Peacock had this problem early last year — he’d get 10, 11, 12 Ks but couldn’t get out of the 5th inning because it took him 100+ pitches to get there. K’s are great, but unless you can consistently get them in five pitches or less (like Pedro in his prime), it’s better to gun for grounders. Once Peacock figured that out, he’d strike out only 8 or 9 in a game, but he also started pitching consistently into the 7th, which I’ve preached here before is really what starters ought to use as a measuring stick.

@John C.: No chance Brown goes to the AFL. Not sure if you were trying to imply that Antonelli might, but zippy chance he does either. Neither are really prospects at this point. There are long shots and filler, potential backups for the big club, but I don’t think they’ve shown much more than that. But I’m rooting for them both to become more than that.

Komatsu has basically stunk since coming over, funny since he was a mid-season all star in his prior league. His average is 54 points lower, 101 lower for OBP, and slugging is 118 (OPS is 219 lower).

What are peoples’ thoughts on Norris so close to the end of the year? His OPS is a decent .789. I would have thought he’d get more doubles this year, only 15 (19 HR), and I think his .436 SLG reflects the lack of doubles.

With Brown, I was figuring he goes to the AFL for a final chance at hanging onto his spot on the 40 man roster – not because I think he’s the answer at this point. I do think he gets a callup in September, mostly as depth that doesn’t require a ML roster move. Komatsu has been up and down at this point, but I regard that as SSS and subject to variables such as changing leagues and organizations. He’s younger (23) than Brown (who is 25) and still has some potential to develop. The window isn’t closed on Brown, but it’s closing. Baseball is an “up or out” business. But since it doesn’t look like Eury Perez is ready to push them, for now they are next in line behind Bernadina for CF. Which is why the team is taking a look at Werth in CF right now.

Speaking of age, at 28, Archie Gilbert should be smoking AA ball. If you’re only in AA ball as you enter your peak years, it’s hard to be considered a prospect.

After all the glowing writeups of A.j. Cole coming into this season, I really thought he was gonna blow away the competition. Instead, he’s been inconsistent to say the least. Can anyone who’s seen him play give any explanation as to why? I know he is young, but given his stuff, wasn’t he supposed to dominate?

Nick, A.J. is a 19-year-old in his first season of professional baseball pitching in Low A against experienced hitters who are 3-4 years older than him. His stuff is great, but he’s still growing (taller and bigger), and he’s just beginning to build a true starter’s arsenal of pitches. In short, I wouldn’t worry about the occasional bad start or big inning; he has plenty of time to develop into something special.

(Of course, I’m just another anonymous Nats fan on the Internet. If it makes you feel better, professionals like John Sickels and Kevin Goldstein have been impressed by A.J.’s performance this year.)

FWIW, Jameson Taillon was more highly regarded and has put up a very similar line of 4.16 ERA (vs. 4.07), 1.207 WHIP (vs. 1.259), and 4.7 K/BB (vs. 4.48) — and Taillon is a few weeks older and much bigger physically, which to me only matters in terms of mechanics; simply put: the big fellas have more room for error, whereas the long, lean guys can be prone to back/hip problems if they’re mechanics are off (see Detwiler, Ross).

I would love to see a thread on september call ups and who everyone thinks the Nats will protect in the rule v draft based on their seasons this year. Another thread had a list of all those eligible for rule v or minor league free agency.
Thanks

We should get a peg on the AFL/Rule 5 when they announce the AFL rosters on Wed. or Thu.

As for callups, it’s nearly a given that Kimball will get transferred from the 15- to the 60-Day DL to make room for Strasburg. I mention this only because Rizzo has shown a proclivity to take the procedural dodge move whenever it’s available rather than DFA (remember the last one with Balester?). Peacock, Milone, and Lombardozzi should be the three (I don’t see more and would not be surprised by two or only one on Thursday). The question is whether or not “last 5” men like Severino, Slaten, Brown, will finally get the axe. Never mind the likes of Mock and Maya, who have special dispensations for various reasons [insert naked pictures joke here].

In both cases — AFL, callups — I expect a lot of confusion and disappointment.

If Rizzo really wants to get ‘cute’ with the numbers, Carr & LaRoche could be moved to the 60-DL along with Kimball for Strasburg, as Sue_D suggests. That would clear roster space for two current non-40 players to be added until the end of the WS. At that point, nine additional players become FA’s, so the roster will have enough space to shift the 60-DL players back to the 40-man list.

There are other players currently on the 40-man who may be looked at as Tender / non-tender decisions (eight, give or take) or as trade pieces (nine). Wise choices here will give the Nationals’ FO some flexibility in who gets ‘protected’ from the RuleV draft going into Viera, 2012.